Quoting SaffronOlive, "Champion of Wits is the glue that holds the deck together". Since the deck can play on every axis of the metagame clock (Aggro, Control, Midrange), we use Champion of Wits to filter away the cards that are not particularly useful in the current matchup. Also, looting 2 cards is a nice way of either getting rid of extra lands, or making sure you hit lands #4 and #5 to be the first to play The Scarab God.
makes sense. i guess you also use it to "feed" the god
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Huey, Dewey and Louie are always dressed in RUG. it is CLEARLY going to be the wedges block Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
Personally, I think that Sapphron Olive posts great lists, but people tend to cling to his lists and run off with them when there are similar, but often just as viable options and variations of his lists done by others. Also, do people really want to play Mid-range against what could be an early control meta? Tempo / aggro generally is a bit better positioned against control.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I designed my own 4-Colors Ally Company deck and won Sunday Super Series 2016 at GP Toronto (Top 1 out 170+ players, 7-0 in sudden death).
My 5-Colors Sliver deck (M14-M15 ; featuring Athreos, God of Passage) got me a Top 2 at a PPTQ, and I only lost in the final because I forgot a trigger with the God.
My Boros Burn deck back in Theros won me the Game Day.
And before that, my Jund Werewolf deck (original Innistrad) was the deck to beat at my LGS (FNMs were the only events I attended then).
What's different now? It first started with Frank Karsten's article about Ixalan's Standard manabase. I already had a bad feeling about enemy-colored decks, due to the manabase. Frank Karsten put that feeling into words and it was very obvious to me then that enemy-colors should be avoided at all cost (for now). I considered all the allied-color pairs, and nothing but UB really excited me (for Hostage Taker and Pirates in general). I started designing my own Pirates deck, read Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa's article, and decided to test out The Scarab God in my list.
After a lot of testing, it was clear to me that the God was the best card in the deck. I don't think I ever lost a game with it on the battlefield. But still, the deck didn't performed as well as I wanted it to. XMage isn't as competitive as MTGO, so 18-5-0 (with more 2-1s than 2-0s), isn't close to Tier 1.
SaffronOlive's article happened then, and it was very enlightening. The backbone of the deck was the same (22 of the 36 non-land cards are identicals), but his deck was specifically designed to win with The Scarab God, and I loved it. With so many ways to disrupt opponent's plays, going for the long game and win on the back of insane card advantage became easy. And like SaffronOlive said, it's probably the best Scarab God deck in Standard. UB Control's only other creature is Torrential Gearhulk, and albeit Eternalizing it is a strong play, they are at the mercy of opponent's deck to feed the God. Sultai Energy has a lot of creatures to Eternalize, but none can play the Midrange game as well as ours (we protect our creatures better) and they are at the mercy of Control/Combo a lot more than Pirates are (Siren Stormtamer counters Settle the Wreckage ; Lookout's Dispersal + Kitesail Freebooter in the main deck make winning game 1 quite easy for us).
So yes, I'm netdecking SaffronOlive's list of The Pirate God, but for good reasons. He managed to do exactly what I had in mind, and saved me a lot of time and playtesting. I didn't brewed the list myself, but I made myself the conscious process of playing UB Pirates with Hostage Taker and The Scarab God before I ever saw his list. He only helped me to get closer to the best list (IMHO). That doesn't mean I'm blinded by his list, and I'll work very hard to make it better. I'm a brewer, and will continue tweaking the list, see my other thread.
That said, there's still probably room for a UB Tempo Pirates deck in Standard. I don't know what it is, but it certainly features Fathom Fleet Captain, and probably Dreamcaller Siren to help the tempo (either main or SB) if The Scarab God doesn't make the list.
Enemy colors can work, but only for fast tribal lists that take advantage of unclaimed territory such as red white natives that uses dinosaurs mostly in the upper range.
My bigger concern is that energy just outvalues a ton of decks coming out the gate with Ixalan. Adding demystify to the sideboard or crushing canopy gives them a one to one answer for solemnity, and both decks get equally hit boarding those in.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Enemy colors can work, but only for fast tribal lists that take advantage of unclaimed territory such as red white natives that uses dinosaurs mostly in the upper range.
Round 1 2-0 against Jeskai Control
Round 2 2-1 against Temur Energy
Round 3 2-0 against Esper Tokens
Round 4 2-0 against Boros Dinos
Ruin raider is an absolute house for us. I can see him hurting in an aggro mirror, but in any game where your opponent is not pressuring your life total he is the best card in the deck. I think the pirate sub theme is worth it because lookout's dispersal is a house, and one of the most powerful cards in standard. Hostage taker and siren stormtamer both really over performed for me as well.
I'm more of a tempo player than an aggro one, so I really like the blue splash. It made the jeskai control and esper tokens matchup feel like a joke.
Round 1 2-0 against Jeskai Control
Round 2 2-1 against Temur Energy
Round 3 2-0 against Esper Tokens
Round 4 2-0 against Boros Dinos
Ruin raider is an absolute house for us. I can see him hurting in an aggro mirror, but in any game where your opponent is not pressuring your life total he is the best card in the deck. I think the pirate sub theme is worth it because lookout's dispersal is a house, and one of the most powerful cards in standard. Hostage taker and siren stormtamer both really over performed for me as well.
I'm more of a tempo player than an aggro one, so I really like the blue splash. It made the jeskai control and esper tokens matchup feel like a joke.
I really like this list as a budget pirate god. Does metallic mimic have a better spot in it than Scrapheap?
Not sure about mimic; the deck doesn't take full advantage of the pirate them. Really just enough to activate fathom fleet captain when need be, and of course dispersal.
I like the 8 recursion creatures in the main deck but I don't think I activated either ability all night. Don't really need to be able to come back from wraths if you can make them discard, or just counter the wrath.
I'll probably stick with scrapheap for now, see if I his recursion is actually useful, and if not try mimic out. I'm definitely excited to revisit mimic after the next set drops but right now I just think we are better off playing individually good cards than we are playing more pirates.
I think the scarab god plays a better role for control decks in the main. For mid-range and tempo it's more a sideboard option.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
hello everyone I am another person that has been playing around with the pirate tempo deck. I have been working on this since the release of the pirates and I have come to find that most of the pirates don't go well with the u/b scheme. I do not like the ruin raider or dead eye tracker for this deck both of those cards just have done enough for the deck. I did find that hope of ghirapur runs very well with the deck I was running 3 but it felt like too many so Now I am down to two. plus its a good one drop that gives you just a bit more protection for dorping a scarab god on turn 5.
I would have to disagree if your playing u/b anything Scarab god is the 5 drop for those colors and change change the game in one whem
The post was from almost two months ago...
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Baral, Chief of Compliance : Great, cheap blocker. Makes all other spells cheaper, and helps to filter cards including sending creatures to the GY for TSG to ressurect.
You guys must have figured it out already, but I envy you the combination of Ravenous Chupacabra and Siren's Ruse. Not a pirate, but Murder for 1U seems decent.
I don't know if this is the right place, but has anyone tried straight up Grixis pirates? I don't think the mana is that bad.
There was an attempt at a grixis list done before Rivals, but I'm not sure where that list ended up. The problem was the mana was clunky and it wasn't as good as going towards one of the color pairs so the idea got dropped. With all the new drops I think there is even less of a reason to really have to drop for a grixis list, as there's more than enough options in each of the potential pairings to shine.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
There was an attempt at a grixis list done before Rivals, but I'm not sure where that list ended up. The problem was the mana was clunky and it wasn't as good as going towards one of the color pairs so the idea got dropped. With all the new drops I think there is even less of a reason to really have to drop for a grixis list, as there's more than enough options in each of the potential pairings to shine.
You get to play just all the best pirates with maximum disruption though. Here's what I've been brewing:
I've basically given up on trying to play anything on T1 and instead focus on trying to play 2-drop into 2-drop + 1-drop. The numbers are all chonky because going into this first week of Rivals I'm interesting in trying out all the new pirates just to see how they do. My initial impression from goldfishing and a few practice games against WB Tokens and UR Prowess is that I don't think Reverse Snapcaster is doing enough (in the maindeck at least) and that Dire Fleet Poisoner is pretty gross when used on an attacking Kari Zev but pretty mediocre otherwise. I'm also interested in trying Buccaneer's Bravado because I can't tell if it's win-more or not.
You'll want at least 1 or 2 Admiral's Order in the sideboard to deal with Settle the Wreckage because your game plan is slower than the two color lists. The other factor is that I think other mid-range builds will just flat out wreck the current list you have. The main issue is they can out-value every pirate on your list by turn 3 while staying on curve. Dinosaurs alone have Relentless Raptor and Rampaging Brontodon, and I've had a friend playing with enrage builds that run Needletooth Raptor. Again, I think you want to pick a direction and stick with it rather than try to do the grixis thing until we get new lands in Dominaria (which I'm hoping are not pain lands because I will flip tables if they do not give the rest of the check land cycle).
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I guess it's a meta call, then. I ended up going 2-1 at my LGS Standard event today. No Dinosaur decks that I saw. Really wasn't any sort of mid-range, in fact, except a UG brew I played against with a bunch of Sphinxes and Majestic Myriarchs. RE: Admiral's Order I just don't like the card. It's good against exactly Settle the Wreckage and basically nothing else. I'd rather just play more Lookout's Dispersals or Spell Pierce before playing Admiral's Orders. The quick and dirty recap:
Round 1 -- UB Scarab Control -- Loss (1-2)
Game 1 he was on the play and got me good with a curve of Fatal Push on my T1 Daring Buccaneer into double Censor on T2 and T3 as I played a tapped land T3. The Scarab God a couple turns later put the game away and I just scooped.
Game 2 I was on the play and started with a T2 Kitesail Freebooter to take his only removal spell, followed by a Fathom Fleet Captain. He didn't find an answer until a few turns later but by then I had a crew of menacing pirate tokens and they went to town.
Game 3 I mulled to 5 on the draw and it never really went anywhere. 2 Unclaimed Territory and 3 2-drops might have gotten there if he had stumbled, but he didn't. Fatal Push and a Gifted Aetherborn were enough. I made a late comeback when I landed 2 Fathom Fleet Captain on consecutive turns and looked to try a repeat of game 2. Unfortunately he tapped out for a Scarab God and I didn't draw a sideboard Vraska's Contempt, and that was that.
Round 2 -- UB Marionette Master combo -- Win 2-0
Game 1 and Game two went basically exactly the same: I played back-to-back hand attack via some combination of Kitesail Freebooter and Duress to take his only early interaction, and steamrolled him with a stream of pirates before he could mount a serious defense. The games were over by T4 or T5 without much done by my opponent.
Round 3 -- UG Majestic Myriarch stuff -- Win 2-0
This was a brew so I don't really know how to report on this.
Game 1 On the play I T2 Duress + Daring Buccaneer and originally thought he was on some sort of Sphinx tribal plan as I saw Curator of Mysteries, Glyph Keeper, and Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign in his hand. He missed on a second blue source for most of the game, though, so the pirates swarmed and took care of business.
Game 2 He actually had a pretty solid start of Narnam Renegade and a T3 Weaver of Currents to power out his big Sphinxes and a Majestic Myriarch, but Dire Fleet Neckbreaker allowed my creatures to attack in anyway, and the constant stream of 4/Xs attacking forced him into some unfavorable trades and eventually he succumbed to the ol' scurvy. Arrrrrrr.
Overall I like the way the deck played. I wasn't a fan of Dire Fleet Daredevil as his ability basically never came up. I definitely want to move them to the sideboard and instead put in more Warkite Marauders. The other thing I would change is add more sideboard answers for Scarab God, as it's just a beating every time it lands and I have basically no way to get rid of it. Other than that I plan to just run it back next week.
I actually skipped anything red outside the phoenix, rare enchantment, and removal. Warkite Marauder is a complete beast of a card in just about all the pirate builds I've been messing with. Just that interaction between Fanatical Firebrand and itself is amazing, let alone other cards like Path of Mettle, Fiery Cannonade, and just about any other red kill spell. I've found if someone is playing creatures, they have to answer the Warkite Marauder or it just swings the entire game in your favor. The only thing that sort of gets around it is +1/+1 counter decks, but those need time to get set up usually and pirates is swinging in at or above curve most of the time.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Hi everyone. Been following this thread since Ixalan came out and have tried some of the builds popping here and there.
I haven't seen the videos recorded by Oren Lagziel posted, so I thought I'd share them:
A standard version of this deck would be with 4x Fatal Push instead of the 3x Walk the Plank (minus something else) and an update to the mana base and sideboard. Having Dreamcaller Siren filling the place of the god for a more aggressive approach, tapping the opponent's blockers at EOT and swinging for 3 (+ with Favourable Winds) with evasion.
Note: Blight Keeper is only there because it can be a turn-1 creature and activate a turn-2 Raid.
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Modern UR Twin
Legacy UWR Miracles
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Quoting SaffronOlive, "Champion of Wits is the glue that holds the deck together". Since the deck can play on every axis of the metagame clock (Aggro, Control, Midrange), we use Champion of Wits to filter away the cards that are not particularly useful in the current matchup. Also, looting 2 cards is a nice way of either getting rid of extra lands, or making sure you hit lands #4 and #5 to be the first to play The Scarab God.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons
ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I tweaked SaffronOlive's list a bit, but not much. One thing you don't know about me is that I'm a brewer at heart, and I've never netdecked before.
After a lot of testing, it was clear to me that the God was the best card in the deck. I don't think I ever lost a game with it on the battlefield. But still, the deck didn't performed as well as I wanted it to. XMage isn't as competitive as MTGO, so 18-5-0 (with more 2-1s than 2-0s), isn't close to Tier 1.
SaffronOlive's article happened then, and it was very enlightening. The backbone of the deck was the same (22 of the 36 non-land cards are identicals), but his deck was specifically designed to win with The Scarab God, and I loved it. With so many ways to disrupt opponent's plays, going for the long game and win on the back of insane card advantage became easy. And like SaffronOlive said, it's probably the best Scarab God deck in Standard. UB Control's only other creature is Torrential Gearhulk, and albeit Eternalizing it is a strong play, they are at the mercy of opponent's deck to feed the God. Sultai Energy has a lot of creatures to Eternalize, but none can play the Midrange game as well as ours (we protect our creatures better) and they are at the mercy of Control/Combo a lot more than Pirates are (Siren Stormtamer counters Settle the Wreckage ; Lookout's Dispersal + Kitesail Freebooter in the main deck make winning game 1 quite easy for us).
So yes, I'm netdecking SaffronOlive's list of The Pirate God, but for good reasons. He managed to do exactly what I had in mind, and saved me a lot of time and playtesting. I didn't brewed the list myself, but I made myself the conscious process of playing UB Pirates with Hostage Taker and The Scarab God before I ever saw his list. He only helped me to get closer to the best list (IMHO). That doesn't mean I'm blinded by his list, and I'll work very hard to make it better. I'm a brewer, and will continue tweaking the list, see my other thread.
That said, there's still probably room for a UB Tempo Pirates deck in Standard. I don't know what it is, but it certainly features Fathom Fleet Captain, and probably Dreamcaller Siren to help the tempo (either main or SB) if The Scarab God doesn't make the list.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
My bigger concern is that energy just outvalues a ton of decks coming out the gate with Ixalan. Adding demystify to the sideboard or crushing canopy gives them a one to one answer for solemnity, and both decks get equally hit boarding those in.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
As long as their non-creature spells are not too color hungry. BW Vampires with Concealed Courtyard and Unclaimed Territory are ok casting Gifted Aetherborn, but Walk the Plank could be a problem, as well as Gideon, etc.
For those interested, here's another article about Pirates (UBR). It seems more Aggro oriented, but still with some Tempo material...
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ixalan-ub-aggro/
Round 1 2-0 against Jeskai Control
Round 2 2-1 against Temur Energy
Round 3 2-0 against Esper Tokens
Round 4 2-0 against Boros Dinos
Ruin raider is an absolute house for us. I can see him hurting in an aggro mirror, but in any game where your opponent is not pressuring your life total he is the best card in the deck. I think the pirate sub theme is worth it because lookout's dispersal is a house, and one of the most powerful cards in standard. Hostage taker and siren stormtamer both really over performed for me as well.
I'm more of a tempo player than an aggro one, so I really like the blue splash. It made the jeskai control and esper tokens matchup feel like a joke.
I really like this list as a budget pirate god. Does metallic mimic have a better spot in it than Scrapheap?
I like the 8 recursion creatures in the main deck but I don't think I activated either ability all night. Don't really need to be able to come back from wraths if you can make them discard, or just counter the wrath.
I'll probably stick with scrapheap for now, see if I his recursion is actually useful, and if not try mimic out. I'm definitely excited to revisit mimic after the next set drops but right now I just think we are better off playing individually good cards than we are playing more pirates.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Here is a link to my version of the deck posted on tcg player https://decks.tcgplayer.com/magic/standard/greed/u-b-pirate-god-tempo/1308983
Still working on the side board but main deck runs really soild.
The post was from almost two months ago...
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
4 Aether Hub
4 Drowned Catacombs
8 Island
8 Swamp
Creatures (17)
4 Siren Stormtamer
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
2 Baral, Chief of Compliance
3 Champion of Wits
2 Hostage Taker
2 The Scarab God
4 Lookout's Dispersal
3 Negate
2 Disallow
4 Fatal Push
2 Vraska's Contempt
Enchantment (4)
4 Gonti's Machinations
3 Scavenger Grounds
4 Duress
4 Essence Scatter
3 Jace's Defeat
1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
Some Highlights:
Gonti's Machinations : Amazing against Ramunap. Great synergy with both Fatal Push to trigger revolt, and Glint-Sleeve Siphoner to get more cards.
Baral, Chief of Compliance : Great, cheap blocker. Makes all other spells cheaper, and helps to filter cards including sending creatures to the GY for TSG to ressurect.
cheers,
Astuce
Actually Im pretty sure Hostage Taker was fixed so that it can not target itself. From Gatherer:
9/29/2017 Hostage Taker has received errata to prevent it from targeting itself. The correct Oracle wording appears above.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
There was an attempt at a grixis list done before Rivals, but I'm not sure where that list ended up. The problem was the mana was clunky and it wasn't as good as going towards one of the color pairs so the idea got dropped. With all the new drops I think there is even less of a reason to really have to drop for a grixis list, as there's more than enough options in each of the potential pairings to shine.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
1x Admiral Beckett Brass
4x Daring Buccaneer
4x Dire Fleet Captain
2x Dire Fleet Daredevil
2x Dire Fleet Neckbreaker
2x Dire Fleet Poisoner
3x Fathom Fleet Captain
3x Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4x Kitesail Freebooter
2x Ruin Raider
3x Siren Stormtamer
2x Warkite Marauder
4x Canyon Slough
4x Dragonskull Summit
3x Drowned Catacomb
3x Fetid Pools
4x Spirebluff Canal
4x Unclaimed Territory
Instant (4)
2x Abrade
2x Lookout's Dispersal
2x Duress
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Game 1 he was on the play and got me good with a curve of Fatal Push on my T1 Daring Buccaneer into double Censor on T2 and T3 as I played a tapped land T3. The Scarab God a couple turns later put the game away and I just scooped.
Game 2 I was on the play and started with a T2 Kitesail Freebooter to take his only removal spell, followed by a Fathom Fleet Captain. He didn't find an answer until a few turns later but by then I had a crew of menacing pirate tokens and they went to town.
Game 3 I mulled to 5 on the draw and it never really went anywhere. 2 Unclaimed Territory and 3 2-drops might have gotten there if he had stumbled, but he didn't. Fatal Push and a Gifted Aetherborn were enough. I made a late comeback when I landed 2 Fathom Fleet Captain on consecutive turns and looked to try a repeat of game 2. Unfortunately he tapped out for a Scarab God and I didn't draw a sideboard Vraska's Contempt, and that was that.
Round 2 -- UB Marionette Master combo -- Win 2-0
Game 1 and Game two went basically exactly the same: I played back-to-back hand attack via some combination of Kitesail Freebooter and Duress to take his only early interaction, and steamrolled him with a stream of pirates before he could mount a serious defense. The games were over by T4 or T5 without much done by my opponent.
Round 3 -- UG Majestic Myriarch stuff -- Win 2-0
This was a brew so I don't really know how to report on this.
Game 1 On the play I T2 Duress + Daring Buccaneer and originally thought he was on some sort of Sphinx tribal plan as I saw Curator of Mysteries, Glyph Keeper, and Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign in his hand. He missed on a second blue source for most of the game, though, so the pirates swarmed and took care of business.
Game 2 He actually had a pretty solid start of Narnam Renegade and a T3 Weaver of Currents to power out his big Sphinxes and a Majestic Myriarch, but Dire Fleet Neckbreaker allowed my creatures to attack in anyway, and the constant stream of 4/Xs attacking forced him into some unfavorable trades and eventually he succumbed to the ol' scurvy. Arrrrrrr.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I haven't seen the videos recorded by Oren Lagziel posted, so I thought I'd share them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI6Ggh4Mmno
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLSREDW03eA&t=16s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8wnC1wvYo0&t=47s
This is his decklist:
While I have always been skeptical about siphoner and hub making it into the deck, after seeing bot hin action, I would like to give both a try.
4x Drowned Catacomb
9x Island
7x Swamp
3x Unclaimed Territory
Creatures
4x Siren Stormtamer
3x Blight Keeper
4x Storm Fleet Aerialist
4x Warkite Marauder
4x Kitesail Freebooter
2x Ruin Raider
3x Dreamcaller Siren
3x Walk the Plank
4x Favourable Winds
4x Lookout's Dispersal
2x Vraska's Contempt
3x Duress
3x Negate
3x Siren's Ruse
4x Moment of Craving
2x Hostage Taker
A standard version of this deck would be with 4x Fatal Push instead of the 3x Walk the Plank (minus something else) and an update to the mana base and sideboard. Having Dreamcaller Siren filling the place of the god for a more aggressive approach, tapping the opponent's blockers at EOT and swinging for 3 (+ with Favourable Winds) with evasion.
Note: Blight Keeper is only there because it can be a turn-1 creature and activate a turn-2 Raid.
UR TwinLegacy
UWR Miracles